The federal government has proposed a 19-percent increase in funding for domestic prevention, treatment, and enforcement dealing with the abuse of drugs, including prescription drug misuse. The increased availability of pain medications and the misconception they are safer than illicit drugs, even if taken improperly, have led to a dramatic rise in prescription drug abuse, overdose death, and addiction across the nation.
The 2011 National Drug Control Strategy released by the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) in July, along with the Administration’s recently released plan (titled Epidemic: Responding to America’s Prescription Drug Abuse Crisis), proposes a blueprint for reducing prescription drug abuse by 1) supporting the expansion of prescription drug monitoring programs (PDMPs) by states, 2) encouraging community prescription take-back initiatives, 3) recommending disposal methods to remove unused medications from the home, 4) supporting education for patients and health care providers, and 5) increasing enforcement to stop illegal prescribing practices and doctor-shopping.
Proposed Fiscal Year 2012 National Drug Control Budget
The President’s Fiscal Year (FY) 2012 National Drug Control Budget requests $26.2 billion to reduce drug use and its consequences in the U.S. This represents an increase of $322.6 million (1.2 percent) over the FY 2010 enacted level of $25.9 billion.
Sources
For the 2011 ONDCP drug control strategy, go to
https://www.atforum.com/addiction-resources/documents/ndcs2011.pdfAccessed November 10, 2011.For The Epidemic: Responding to America’s Prescription Drug Abuse Crisis Plan, go to
https://www.atforum.com/addiction-resources/documents/rx_abuse_plan.pdf Accessed November 10, 2011.For more information on the fiscal 2012 proposed budget, go to
http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/ondcp/policy-and-research/fy12highlight_exec_sum.pdf Accessed November 10, 2011.